Ford's new vehicle sales slow in August, in line with expectations

DETROIT – Ford Motor on Friday said its U.S. sales last month increased double-digits from a year earlier but were off about 4% from the prior month, as the company and auto industry continue to manage significant supply chain issues.

The Detroit automaker reported August sales of 158,088 new vehicles in the U.S., a 27% increase from August 2021, when the company’s production and sales were significantly impacted by a shortage of semiconductor chips. Last month’s sales were down 3.6% compared to July, including an 8% decline in its F-Series pickup trucks.

Those sales were in line with analyst expectations, though. The company said its Ford brand was America’s best-selling brand for a second consecutive month.

Sales of Ford’s profitable F-Series pickups were up 1.7% for the month from August 2021 but off 10.7% for the first eight months of the year compared with the same period last year. The company has sold 6,842 models of its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup as of Aug. 31, including 2,373 vehicles last month.

“F-Series was America’s best-selling truck, best-selling hybrid truck and best-selling electric truck with F-150 Lightning in August. Ford’s overall electric vehicle portfolio expanded four–fold in July, while conquesting from competitors at a rate over 60%,” Andrew Frick, Ford vice president of sales, distribution and trucks, said in a release.

Ford’s 2022 electric vehicle sales totaled more than 36,500 units through August. That included sales of about 5,900 vehicles in August, which was 23% lower than the prior month but up more than 300% from a year ago.

Year-to-date sales of all Ford’s vehicles, including its luxury Lincoln brand, totaled more than 1.2 million units through August, a 0.2% decrease from a year ago. At the end of last month, the automaker’s U.S. vehicle inventory, including dealer stock and in-transit vehicle, was about 259,000 units, up from 254,000 in July.

J.D. Power and LMC Automotive estimate total U.S. new vehicle sales last month topped 980,000 units, which would be 2.6% lower than August 2021 – the first month the auto industry’s vehicle inventories were significantly impacted by an ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips.

RBC Capital Markets said the seasonally adjusted annualized rate, or SAAR, for new vehicles was 13.4 million, slightly higher than its 13.2 million forecast and in line with July’s 13.5 million. The SAAR is a closely watched metric by analysts and investors.